


A Little Bit of Found Family

by defenestratingreason



Category: Voltron - Fandom, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 'show me what you have' 'a KNIFE' 'NO', Adoption, Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Real World, Arizona - Freeform, Artist Keith (Voltron), Childhood Friends, Coran (Voltron) Can't Cook, Found Family, Gen, Jewish Allura, Jewish Character, Jewish Coran, Jewish Holidays, Long Distance Family, Long-Distance Friendship, New Zealand, Online Family, Online Friendship, Shiro (Voltron) Can't Cook, Uncle Coran (Voltron), shiro is keith's legal guardian
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 09:30:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22434295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/defenestratingreason/pseuds/defenestratingreason
Summary: Raising a preteen is hard, especially when you're barely grown yourself. Shiro needs an adult. An adultier adult.Or, the one where Shiro turns to the internet for orphan-raising advice and strikes up a life-changing friendship with Coran.Or or, how two fragmented families become one.One-shot with supplementary material.
Relationships: Allura & Coran & Keith & Shiro (Voltron), Allura & Coran (Voltron), Allura & Keith (Voltron), Allura & Shiro (Voltron), Coran & Keith (Voltron), Coran & Shiro (Voltron), Keith & Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 35





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This started off as a series of bullet points on tumblr that gradually got out of control and turned into a fic, which means that the tone is EXTREMELY informal and conversational.

This work has been published on Tumblr @sensicalabsurdities and Ao3. I have not authorized any other websites or apps to post or distribute this work.

* * *

So Shiro is, what, 19? 20? Barely an adult himself, legally, and certainly not old enough to think of himself as one. And yet. Here he is. The legal guardian of a preteen he only met a few months ago, because he and Keith _ bonded _ , and his heart was too soft to leave this kid unhappy in a foster home, and the social workers had nodded and said that Shiro seemed unusually responsible for his age, and they’d be willing to give it a chance. And it worked out. And Shiro signed the papers. And it’s only just now hitting him that he’s still a kid inside, but he just _ adopted _ someone, and he loves Keith and wouldn’t give him up for the world but……. he’s privately a little overwhelmed. He needs an adult. An adultier adult.

And so he goes online. He’s not really thinking he’ll find anyone who can relate to his specific situation, but still, he tries:

“Single adoptive par—” He stops and cringes and erases the beginning of the word _ parent _. “Single adoptive guardian to preteen seeking advice.”

Most of the responses he gets are pretty obviously sympathetic; people who have never been in his situation, but still want to offer a word of comfort. He appreciates it, but also, he wants something a little more specific.

Finally, he gets a response: “Oh, believe me, I can relate.”

It’s a man in a very similar situation to his — single, unsupported, raising someone else’s orphaned preteen. He even used to be a pilot, like Shiro wants to be, albeit in New Zealand rather than in the U.S. The one biggest difference? He’s middle-aged. He’s an adultier adult. Shiro can feel the relief melting through his body.

“My name is Shiro,” he types. 

“Coran Hieronymus Wimbledon Smythe, at your service. Pleased to meet you!”

And so begins a correspondence.

At first it’s just about advice:

_ “Keith hit a kid in school today who was giving him crap about his parents, I’m not sure if I should punish him for that?” _

_ “Oh, Allura’s in private school, too? How do you deal with the school boards???” _

_ “How old is old enough to be left home alone?” _

But very quickly it becomes a genuine friendship and mentor/mentee relationship in its own right. Coran becomes a source of stability for Shiro.

One day, Coran asks Shiro what he’s doing for the holidays.

In the conversation that ensues, they realize neither of them really have family to spend the new year with, so they decide, the more the merrier, and Shiro and Keith fly out to New Zealand to spend Keith’s winter break with Shiro’s new friend.

_ (“I cant believe we’re flying across the world to hang out with a 50-year-old man you met online.” _

_ “Aaaand that’s enough out of you.” _

_ “I’m just saying, have you ever even seen a horror movie? Because I –” _

_ “Aren’t those usually rated R?” _

_ “…have not.” _

_ “Nice save.”) _

The house is so much bigger than Shiro was expecting, with a guest bedroom for each of them, and it sort of belatedly hits him that Allura probably isn’t a scholarship student like Keith is – but Coran doesn’t let his guests feel at unease for a second longer than he can help, running around and cracking jokes and just generally inviting them to feel at home.

Allura and Keith are more than a little suspicious of each other at first, but it evaporates when Allura introduces him to her pet mice and cats, and they disappear for the rest of the afternoon to play with them. Keith admits that he desperately wants a dog, but he and Shiro don’t have the time or money right now; Allura responds by telling him that, if he wants, he can borrow one of her pets until the end of his stay. He ends up bonding with her father’s favorite cat, Red. It stings a bit, but a promise is a promise.

Coran tries to cook them a welcome dinner, but it turns out that being absolutely abysmal at cooking is something else Coran and Shiro have in common, so Allura basically tells Coran to clear out and tosses Keith an apron, and together they make mac n’ cheese, french fries, and chocolate chip cookies for dinner.

_ (“… I don’t know what I was expecting,” Shiro says, as Keith spears a macaroni elbow with a sharp french fry. _

_ Allura nods as she tries to retrieve the macaroni Keith just stole from her. “You did let the thirteen year olds make dinner, yes.” _

_ “I wouldn’t use the word let, personally,” replies Coran, just a little bitterly.) _

The holidays are a rousing success; it’s the first time Allura and Coran have had guests for Hanukkah since Alfor died, and somehow it makes it feel less like going through the motions — having someone to explain all of the traditions to helps both of them remember why they were so important to them in the first place. Shiro and Keith both take their roles as assistants in the preservation of Allura’s family legacy very seriously, and it’s the best Hanukkah present Allura could have asked for.

(Still, Keith feels bad about not having money for actual material presents, so he offers to teach Allura how to wield a knife, and she enthusiastically agrees.)

(Coran is… less thrilled.)

By the time the break is over, they’re already making plans for their next visit together, and Keith and Allura have exchanged phone numbers and social media accounts and promised to stay in touch. 

Allura and Coran come to visit the U.S. in July, staying in a hotel, because Shiro really doesn’t have the room. They all have a great time setting off (possibly illegal) fireworks in the desert on the 4th. Shiro mans the grill in a “World’s Best Big Brother” apron from Keith, wielding a pair of tongs he broke out of their plastic this morning, and tries to let honesty make up for his incompetence. 

_ (“I promise the food is all kosher, but I can’t promise that it’s gonna taste any good.” _

_ Allura wiggles her hotdog in the air and peers at it. “Are you sure this is cooked?” _

_ “No,” Shiro says, “no I am not.” _

_ Keith shakes his head. “… I still can’t believe they let you adopt me.”) _

It becomes a tradition — Hanukkah in New Zealand, whenever Shiro can afford it, and summer or spring in the U.S., which Coran and Allura can pretty much always afford. 

Middle of summer in the Arizona desert is only fun about twice, so when Allura and Keith are fifteen, Coran rents an RV and they go on a road trip up the West Coast (and go swimming _ often _).

It’s a fond memory for all four of them, and both households have photos from the trip lying around in spots of honor.

No one’s really sure when Shiro and Keith started saying “Uncle Coran,” but both guardian-kid pairs do know that, if anyone asked, they’d describe the other as their extended family. 

The advice between the guardians starts flowing both ways as Shiro gets older and gains experience, and Allura and Keith find invaluable companions in each other as they navigate the murky waters of being a teenager.

_ (“And this guy in my class won’t leave me alone, he thinks we’re rivals or something—” _

_ “That does sound annoying.” _

_ “— and he won’t stop calling me ‘Mullet.’” _

_ “… In all fairness—” _

_ “aLLURA”) _

On Allura’s 18th birthday, Keith flies up to New Zealand on his own, and the two of them go on a week long hiking trip in the mountains. 

Allura takes a million photos, and Keith sits in trees and sketches, and they both befriend more wild animals than they probably _ should _.

“Hey, Keith?” Allura asks one day, posing against a tree with flowers braided into her hair. 

“Yeah?” Keith asks, only glancing up from his sketchbook for the briefest of moments to make sure he got her eyebrows right.

“I’m so grateful that Shiro made that post.”

Then he does look up, pencil stilling on the page. His eyes are soft as he replies, “Yeah, me too.”

“You’re my best friend. Did you know that?”

“I—” His eyes go wide. “Don’t you… have other friends? … At school?”

“Yes,” she says simply. “But I’m closest with you.”

“But… I live in a different country. Most of our friendship is online.”

Allura glances sideways, pursing her lips together. “I’m able to be open with you in ways that I… ways that my other friends wouldn’t understand.” When she looks at him again, her eyes are shining, and she’s smiling. “But you do.”

“Oh.” Keith doesn’t exactly know what else to say to that, so he ducks his head and continues working on his drawing. After a minute, he clears his throat, still looking down, and says, “I feel the same way, too.”

He glances up at her awkwardly, and before she can say anything, he holds out the sketchbook. “Want to see the final version?”

She takes the sketchbook in her hands and looks down, and immediately her eyebrow climbs up her forehead. “Are my ears… pointed?”

“We’re in Lord of the Rings territory. You looked like an elf.”

“I can’t believe this,” she says, but there’s a laugh hidden in her voice, and Keith can’t help noticing, the next time he video-chats her from Arizona, that she’s hung the picture up in a position of pride in her room.

Family comes in weird packages sometimes, and it isn’t always tied together by blood. No matter where they go, Allura, Coran, Keith, and Shiro know that the others are always going to be there in body or in spirit to help them up.


	2. Bonus Trivia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonus facts that didn't make it into the story proper - aka, the supplementary trivia section.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for brief mentions of underage drinking in a family environment.

  * I haven’t decided what country she was born in, but Allura’s first language is actually French. She has the impeccable accent and grammar of someone who’s been taught English as a second language _very very thoroughly._
  * 13-year-old Allura and Keith bond over the fact that neither of their guardians can cook, and quiz each other on what, exactly, they actually live on. Keith and Shiro mostly eat fast food and takeout, while Allura and Coran rely heavily on gourmet microwave meals.
  * The mac ‘n cheese and chocolate chip cookies were actually made from scratch! Allura’s no Hunk, but she can whip up a homecooked meal just fine as long as she has a recipe in front of her, and Keith is good at following her instructions. The French fries were frozen, though.
  * Keith has a little bit of an addiction to fried potato products that only gets worse when he’s introduced to latkes.
  * Everyone except Shiro gets Super Invested in the dreidel game. Shiro’s just sitting there like “Can’t we all… just have a good time together… and agree to share the chocolate afterwards???” and meanwhile Coran is just cackling maniacally as he scoops the entire pile of coins into his bowl and the kids stare murderously at him.
  * I didn’t write about New Year’s, but that’s a thing! This is Coran we’re talking about, so there’s a bunch of silly hats and noisemakers, and fizzy cider all around (with champagne for Coran).
  * Shiro: “I’ll stick to cider; I’m not even legal back home yet and I want to set a good example for Keith.”
  * Keith, freezing, and then slowly setting aside the glass of champagne he just poured behind Coran’s back: “Right… yeah…”
  * (Allura, sliding the glass discretely towards her plate: “That’s very admirable, Shiro.”
  * Coran, without even turning around: “Put it back, Allura.”)
  * Allura tries to teach Shiro how to bake. It Does Not Go Well.
  * Basically, Shiro’s curse is that he burns everything he cooks. You may notice that this is incongruous with the undercooked hotdogs from the 4th of July section; smash cut to Keith silently sweating because he snuck in under Shiro to turn down the heat on the grill.
  * The “World’s Best Big Brother” apron is actually a “World’s Best Dad” apron with the “Dad” part crossed out and written over.
  * All four of them like to stargaze together because they’re all massive space nerds.
  * Regarding the conversation they have on Allura’s 18th birthday hike: Allura is Keith’s best friend pretty much by default (not that she wouldn’t be otherwise)– he doesn’t really get along with people at school (he sometimes thinks he and Hunk could hit it off if Hunk weren’t always hanging around Lance).
  * Allura’s actually quite popular in school! She’s got her own squad, and she values all of those friendships immensely. It just happens that she feels she has the least to hide with Keith, because he understands her on a fundamental level – not just because they have similar histories, though that certainly helps, but because they have such similar values and morals. She really does miss him a lot when he’s not around.
  * Yes, Allura is living on the edge by keeping mice and cats in the same house, but her cats are very well trained. Green sometimes tries to bat them around out of curiosity, but no real harm has ever come of it.


	3. Hanukkah in New Zealand




End file.
